Potted film reviews by Gary Anthony Cross

April 21, 2016June 22, 2016

Die Hard With A Vengeance (1995)

John McClane is back in the filthy vest as he attempts to foil a bullion heist with the aid of Samuel L. Jackson.

John McTiernan is back at the helm and this feels much more like the original than the distinctly flaccid second film. It starts at breakneck speed and continues at a pace, as Bruce Willis is chased all over the city while trading wise cracks and jibes with his sidekick, getting ever sillier as it goes. It is the turn of Jeremy Irons to display a motley collection of dubious accents as the Hollywood Euro-villain of the month and by the end logic has firmly taken a back seat as it settles into the usual action movie excesses. The female villain seems slightly irrelevant and there’s maybe one double cross too many, not that it really matters because Die Hard was hardly popular because of its gritty realism.

The buddy partnership works a treat, the jokes are funny and the set pieces exciting. A superior action film and solid sequel.